Popular lawyer-turned-rapper, Folarin Falana, a.k.a Falz TheBahdGuy, son of human rights activist, Femi Falana has stated that in spite of the recent clampdown on perpetrators of internet fraud, popularly known as Yahoo Yahoo, the present government has not done enough to combat the cybercrime which has gradually become a fallback means of livelihood for Nigerian youths.
In a chat with E-Daily, the ‘This is Nigeria’ crooner who has been heavily criticized for condemning the crime and entertainers who encourage it, said the government needs to do more to put an end to the crime which has tarnished the country’s image abroad.
“I think the government through their law enforcement agencies are supposed to come in and clamp down on people perpetration such acts and make sure that people face consequences for their actions; because if they do face consequences, that could be a deterrent to other people thinking about committing such acts.
So far, the government hasn’t done enough but it appears from recent activities that they want to do more. So let’s hope that they will do more”, he said.
He added that though he has been seriously lashed for condemning the crime, he would not stop. “I’ve always said this from the beginning of time and maybe I was the first person to get a backlash on this. I’ve never been a fan of celebrating cyber-crime.
When I said it in an interview, it got me a lot of backlashes. I will say it again and again; cyber-crime is wrong, cyber-crime is giving us a horrible name, especially outside Nigeria.
It’s destroying our youths and a lot of people are feeling it’s the only option. I understand the sentiment of people were not privileged and feeling like cyber-crime is the fastest way to get money.
But there are people out there actually putting in efforts, toiling, struggling to make it by doing legitimate stuff and not just taking from someone else. One thing I believe is that you live your life, let others live theirs, as long as you living your life does not affect another person negatively.
But as long as you are taking from someone else, that is an offence even against humanity and it’s bad. I’ve never subscribed to it and I’ve never been a fan of celebrating it.